Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping will discuss reestablishing US-China military communications at their summit this week, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.
Biden “is determined to see the reestablishment of military-to-military ties because he believes it’s in the US national security interest,” Sullivan said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. He said he doesn’t want to “get ahead of any announcement” that might come out of the meeting.
The issue has been a priority for Biden and “we need those lines of communication so that there aren’t mistakes or miscalculations or miscommunication,” Sullivan said.
China suspended those communications last year to protest then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. The defense-to-defense ties were further complicated when Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu was ousted last month, leaving US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin with no direct counterpart.
Sullivan said the hotline should be restored between top defense officials “all the way down to the tactical, operational level.”
Iran also is on the agenda for the Biden-Xi meeting Wednesday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco — their first face-to-face meeting in a year and Xi’s first trip to the US in six years.
“Certainly, the question of Iran’s nuclear program and the threat it poses will be on the agenda, as will the threat that Iran poses to regional stability, and the threat it poses to US forces in the region,” Sullivan said.
The US is seeking to tighten sanctions against Iran, which is a key source of oil for China, as Tehran supports groups such as Hamas, which carried out the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The US and Europe classify Hamas as a terrorist group.
